Christmas

We got a late start with our Christmas festivities this year because of our trip, but we caught up by making Gingerbread houses and toffee, seeing the Layton lights, and having lots of Christmas parties.

Jack & Kire making houses

My family white elephant party

Trevor, Megan, Skye, Jack, Trevor, Amy, Grady

Erik, Kire, Julia and Lauren

A few highlights were the Snuggie blanket I brought, a christmas sweater, a dog clock that has a different dog bark for every hour and Erik received some socks that say "want to shag?"

Christmas morning was so fun in our house with 2 little boys. We didn't get a ton this year because the trip was our big present, but each of the boys got a couple of toys that they really like. Jack got this awesome bouncing horse that he got handed down to from his cousins, and 2 books and a fun puzzle. Kire got a couple of boxes of legos, a game, and a matchbox race track with cars. But Kire's favorite present was a .97 cent wallet I got him and $1 that his uncle Cam gave him to put in it.

Kire was so funny opening presents. He took his time and wanted to look at everything. He was opening his stalking and would say, "Oh did Santa get this out of the basement?" because he had seen some of his presents downstairs after I'd bought them.

For mine & Erik's present we got the family a Play Satation 3. Our dvd player died about a month ago and we decided to get this instead since it's a blue ray player, it streams Netflix, plus the boys can play games, so I think it was a good decision (except now the boys have taken over the tv with NCAA football and Starwars Legos).

Lots of parties with the Thompsons. We had a Santa visit and had the kids dressed up for the nativity; well Kire refused to dress up and Jack chose a Tiger costume.

Jack & Kire building their hotwheel track with grandpa bart.

Kire with his Legos

Christmas has come and gone so fast this year, but I'm exhausted and ready for it to be over. I want to put away all of my Christmas stuff right now because I feel like my house is so cluttered, but I'll try to hold off for a couple of days.

Disneyland

Erik and I hadn't been to Disneyland since we were little kids, so I was so excited to go and take the boys. We went for 2 days, and that was perfect. We were able to do everything we wanted in that time. Disneyland was fun, but I think we're like a once every 5 years kind of family. The atmosphere was fun and the kids liked the rides, but it's crowded and we've been on much faster/funner rides at other parks. So I'm glad we went, but I prefer the beach.

Kire rode every ride, even Space mountain and the other roller coasters. I was surprised but he lOVEd the big rides best.

San Diego

Last Thursday we headed down to San Diego. It's our favorite place. We love the beach and have gone just about every year. Erik just finished up the football season so we were ready for a trip together.

We went to Legoland the first day we were there. It was a fun place, and I got cheap tickets, but I wouldn't recommend it. Kire loves legos so he had fun, but there weren't any adult rides and Jack couldn't go on anything.

The next couple of days we spent going to the beach and Old town. We went to La Jolla and saw tons of sea lions right on the rocks in front of us.

Sunday was beautiful, 80 degrees, so we spent most of the day at Coronado beach. The sand is so great there and it's wonderful for families. The water was cold but the boys played in the sand and we saw dolphins a few yards out.

Grandma Donna

My sweet Grandma Donna passed away last weekend while we were out of town. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer but had been relatively healthy until just after Thanksgiving when her health began to deteriorate quickly. She was such a wonderful woman and I am grateful to have had her in my life for this long, but I am happy she is with her husband now.

My sweet husband and boys dropped me off in Las Vegas on our way home from our trip Wednesday so I could fly to Arizona to go to her funeral. I was so glad I did. I rarely get to see my family who live there, and now with my grandma gone I won't have much of an excuse to go, so it'll be a while before I see them again. Then I drove home early this morning with my brother and sister, what a long week.

Amy, Skye, Dad, Lauren, Grady & Trevor

Casket Bearers

Kire's 5!

My little buddy turned 5 yesterday! Kire is awesome. He is so quirky and strange. Yes, I get mad when he won't eat food because it's "ugly" but OCD can be a nice trait to have. He is very organized and takes great care of everything. He will fold all of the clothes in his drawers and line up his toys and things neatly. He even yells at Erik when he tries to eat food on the couch. We are a lot alike. I'm so grateful for him. He makes me laugh everyday and is a great big brother.

Right now he loves cowboys so he wanted a cowboy party. We played lasso the horse, shoot the indian, pin the tail on the donkey, and had a pinata. We got him a leapster system so he can play games and I found some sweet leather boots at Savers for $3. He got a pillow pet, clothes and lots of toys, mostly guns from friends ( he got 4 guns, I guess they know him pretty well).

Guitar cake

Wrestling

Erik decided to sign Kire up for a wrestling clinic they were doing at the school. Kire doesn't show much interest in sports, but he likes play fighting and beating up his brother so this may be a sport he can excel at. And since Erik is anti-soccer, this is the only other sport he can start when he's 4. It was 4 weeks long with practices 2x/week and today was their meet. Kire was a trouper, he cried a couple of times but won 2 out of 3 matches.

He is so proud of his medal
Have you ever seen a nerdier smile

And just for fun, here's a picture of our bunny that the boys decided to put a football helmet on.

Friday Night Lights

Well the high school football season ended tonight for us. My husband is the head coach of Northridge and tonight they lost their playoff game. They made it to the top 8 in 5A and unfortunatly they got lined up with Bingham, the #1 team in the state, or they may have made it further. It was a great season, me and the boys enjoyed the games and especially the nice weather. Usually by this time we have some snow, but it's been great.

So I'm sad it's over, I wish they could have gone for 2 more weeks, but I'm happy to have my husband back. We haven't eaten a meal as a family in weeks, and half of the time the boys are asleep by the time he gets home, so they'll like having their dad back.

(And maybe our lawn will get mowed and my sink will get unclogged in the near future).

SYTYCD

I wanted to go to the So You Think You Can Dance tour show, but never got around to buying tickets. This week I remembered it was coming up and so I started to check the ksl classified ads to see if I could score a couple of tickets cheep, and I did! I was worried that the seats weren't going to be very good, but me and Brittani were pleasantly surprised.

When I went to the Michael Buble concert at the E Center the stage was set so far back that we could hardly see him, even though we had pretty good tickets. But with the dance show the stage was moved forward to the middle of the arena, so there really weren't any bad seats.

The show was AWESOME! They didn't do any slow, ballroom dances and they did my favorite ones from the season. I was sad that my boyfriend Neil wasn't there, and Twitch and Alex weren't there either so they didn't get to do their bad-a Outta Your MInd hip-hop routine (Watch it now!).

Halloween!!

I found this awesome Buzz Lightyear costume for Kire and decided Jack just had to be Woody to match. And since I was going with the whole Toy Story theme I figured Erik & i should participate too. So I made us Mr & Mrs potato head costumes out of felt. Erik was thrilled about it, obviously, but he was a good sport.

Jack thought his cowboy boots were pretty cool and has been dancing around in them for a week.

Also, notice "squeeks" (Jack's purple stuffed bird) which is in every picture because he drags it by its one arm everywhere.

We carved pumpkins, went to my moms trunk or treat, to our ward carnival and finished the night off by trick or treating. I love Halloween. I love the costumes.

I think it was on Modern Family this week, but they said "Halloween is a chance for men to dress like women and women to dress like whores," so true.

30 Rock

I didn't really like last weeks live version, but last nights episode was great.

Jack: "Break up with Carol? You two seemed so happy. The other day I saw you two laughing in the lobby together."

Liz: "A guy on crutches bit it in the revolving door and he was so scared."

Liz: "If I could push a button and 5 people in the world would die but I would get free cable for life, I'd do it."

Liz: "I'm the one with the performance problem. I freaked out and my junk closed for business. It's like Fort Knox down there."

Jack: "We are lovers."

Liz: "Oh that word bums me out unless it's between the words meat and pizza."

Jack: "I'm only gonna say this once a decade, you're great. You're Liz lemon damn it. In certain lights you're an 8, using east coast over 35 standards, excluding Miami."

FML

Yesterday I got my package from Shade clothing I'd been waiting for. If you don't know, Shade is a clothing line like Downeast or modmod, they have cute basic stuff. Anyways they are going out of business and had a huge sale on their website so I ordered a few items. My package came with 2 of the 6 items I had ordered and a note that said they were out of the other items.

FYI-if you're out of the items, don't let peoples purchase order go through, or email them and let them know.

Well I was pissed. Not only because I didn't get the $11 jean skirt I had ordered, but also because my shipping cost more than the 2 undershirts I got.

I sent a nice email to the company asking them to refund my shipping costs because I wouldn't have purchased the 2 $3 shirts if I wasn't being shipped my other items. It's only worth paying shipping if you get several items, obviously, and I wouldn't have even ordered those shirts if I had to pay $7 shipping.

They emailed me back today and refunded me $1. So now my great deal $3 shirts basically cost $7 each. Thanks Shade, no wonder you're going out of business. FML.

Bargains

I'm a total bargain shopper and this morning I made out big.

Last month I started doing Bountiful baskets, a food co-op. For $15 you get a basket full of a variety of fresh produce. You have to sign up Monday/Tuesday and pick it up Saturday morning, so I've been doing it 2x/month. It's a great deal, today I got this:

A head of lettuce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pomegranates, apples, oranges, bananas and onions.

And after I picked up my groceries I went to Old Navy where they had sweaters on sale for $10, which I combined with a coupon I got in the mail for buy 1 adult item & get a child item free. So I got 4 adult sweaters & 4 sweaters for the boys all normally priced between $20-30, for $42. $5 Each!

One Sunday Erik overheard a lady commenting on how my kids always had to have the best clothes, and it was a rude remark like I was snotty. The funny thing was that day Kire was wearing a Polo shirt I had bought at a thrift store. I am kind of a name brand snob, because the clothes seriously hold up better, but I NEVER buy a shirt that's not on sale and I rarely spend more than $5 on anything for my kids. I just take the time to shop around and wait for sales and I can get my kids a nice wardrobe for cheaper than someone could from shopping at walmart. So there, don't judge.

30 Rock

Liz: "I don't know if he told you this, but he went to Harvard."

Jack: "So we know he's smart and superb at masturbation." high five.

Jena: "I've turned into my mother, and I've turned you into me, you're welcome. But it was still wrong."

Lutz: "Hey, you eat from your own table remember. Our food is separate, separate!"

Tracy: "I'll kill you white devil!"

Goodreads

I've read a lot of good books so far this year, 25, but I have a problem. I have a really difficult time reading the one thing I should be reading, The Book of Mormon. Normally I can pick up a book and read for hours, but I have a hard time reading the scriptures. So my goal is to finish the BOM by the end of the year.

Currently reading The Book Theif-great so far

The Giver, Lowry

Rebecca, Maurier

Mockingjay, (and re-read Books 1&2), Collins

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Books 1-3, Larsson

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein

The Help, Stockett

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Meyer

Uglies, Books 1-4, Westerfeld

Double Tap, Martini

The Lost Symbol, Brown

The Last Song, Sparks

The Vampire Diaries, Books 1-4, Smith

The Gargoyle, Davidson

The Maze Runner, Dashner

I highlighted my favorite ones so far.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we made a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Together they weigh under 70 pounds; about as much as the pumpkins we bought.
And if Erik wasn't allergic, I would have brought home a new pet.

Kire loves animals. Jack loves to look at them, but freaks out when he's close; he wouldn't get near the kittens. It's funny because Jack is more aggressive and fearless than Kire is in almost all other areas.

30 Rock

Jack: "I'm not an old dad. 50 is the new 40, for men. 5o is still 60 for women."

Tracy: "So for me to be able to be to the birth of my daughter I have to answer trivia questions, despite having gone to middle school in an Exxon station?"

Frank: "You know if you wanted to cheat on Carol with an Italian dude who smells like cigarettes, I've made it very clear I would flip over my futon for you. Not cool!"

What type of mammal is the famous Shamu?

Tracy: "She is an Orca. FYI They are very difficult to keep in a home aquarium."

Jack: "My daughter, if you have the blondness and self esteem of your mother you will need no advice. Life will be easy for you. Otherwise I'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Lemon."

Liz:"... If you're running low on laundry, a bathing suit makes perfectly acceptable underwear. Bandannas are a fun, sexy fashion accessory..(Jack: "This is over.")..let me give my reasons. Put potato chips on a sandwich!"

30 Rock

Kenneth: "Welcome to the late show with David Lettermen. And now, as with all studio audiences, we will sort you according to attractiveness: front, front, balcony..."

Pete: "No please, I have 5 kids that I don't want to be home with."

Frank: "Liz, would you rather be with the person you love forever, but you always have to wear a shirt made out of their pubes oR be alone for the rest of your life."

I love Matt Damon, but I know their relationship won't last because there's no way he could continue on the show, and Liz just wouldn't be the same if she were in a happy relationship. But I'll enjoy him while it lasts.

Cul-de-sac

I live in a cul-de-sac and am sure my kids would not be alive still if I didn't. It is wonderful.

Jack runs out occasionally without pants.

Kire & Austin can drive their cars & bikes without worrying about getting hit. And they can chase and bother the group of little girls that play too.

BTW, Kire was sad the other day because the girl neighbors were playing barbies and didn't want to play with him and he asked if he could play. I told him barbies were for girls. He said, "But there's boy ones." Elise, don't let him play barbies, even if it's Ken, thanks.

The kids play outside all day. I can sit on my porch and do yard work or read and let the kids run around. I don't know what I'm going to do during the winter.

Kire started preschool again, so that will help keep him busy once it's cold outside.

This year his best friend Austin is in his class. They are so funny. Kire asks me all the time, "when will I be as big as Austin." Well, probably never, but you're older I tell him.

Austin has a little brother, Carson, who is just younger that Jack. His mom watches the boys mondays while I'm at work and she emailed me this picture.

I'm glad the boys are being put to work.
If Jack's lucky Kire will take him for a ride. But usually Austin is willing.

Peeta

I saw Peeta on GLee last night. Seriously, the new kid Sam is what i have pictured in my head as how Peeta looks. He's darling and has a beautiful voice. But supposedly he is going to be playing Kurt's boyfriend.

I'm glad Glee's back. Sometimes the songs can be a bit too much, but the dialogue is so witty.

I also watched Raising Hope last night. I'd heard good reviews about the show. It was outrageous and pretty funny.

FML

Today I had my IUD removed.

This bastard has been inside me for 4 months and has just caused me problems. I heard the mirena iud was a good option. You don't have to worry about birth control and it is supposed to make your periods lighter, and possibly non-existent. I got it at the end of April and kept hoping my periods would get better, but I am having a period every 2 weeks, I've broken out, and it's making me crazy emotional. FML.

So today I finally had it removed and my doc said a lot of people have these problems so I'm not crazy. She also asked if I'd gained weight, and I have gained 7 pounds, despite running like 15 miles a week. So I'm pissed I waited so long to have it removed, but hope it won't take too long for the side-effects to go away.

So maybe now I'll be able to lose some weight.

Also, while I'm complaining, Erik has 2 chores: mow the lawn and do the garbage's. This week I jokingly offered to pay my neighbor, KG, to mow my lawn because it had been over 2 weeks. He volunteered to do the front yard, but I told him not to worry about it. 5 minutes later he's out mowing my lawn, so Erik ran out there out of guilt and got it done. And today, garbage day, Erik didn't get the cans out to the curb. FML. Am I really asking too much? What chores do your husbands do?

So I apologize to my neighbors for my ugly lawn and stinky trash.

Damn you football season.